Day of the Dead with Daniel Ricciardo

F1 moves to Mexico this weekend and as the cars line up to take on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, the guys down at RedBull Racing decided to have some fun first. With the race weekend coinciding with the popular "Day Of The Dead" celebrations in Mexico, Daniel Ricciardo decided to join in on the festivities. On Wednesday night, the Red Bull Racing driver entertained a thousand people in a stunning celebration of the The Day of the Dead in Mexico City. The Australian switched the asphalt racing track for a big metallic dome with dancing skeletons and symbolic elements to fly through the air, challenging Death to complete the original altar.

F1 returns to Mexico for the second year running after a long absence in the sports and PUMA threw a huge party in a unique Red Bull Racing style. Daniel was joined by some special guests and symbolically set an offering through four big moments. The talented Mariana Echeverria personified as "The Catrina", hosted the even that included the versatile warrior Uriel del Toro, a flight through the air spreading Cempazuchitl flower petals by the beautiful model Gabi Graff, and some skeletons riding motorcycles. In the final act, the F1 driver lit up the fire inside the Offrendome, after defeating Death in a thrilling battle. 

Have thrilled the crowds in something other than a racing car, Daniel had this to say about his experience, "I love the day of the dead celebrations here in Mexico City and the way everyone is dressed up in skulls, it feels like we're in a movie. The Mexicans passion for life and their passion for remembering those who are no longer with us is also fascinating. It was a great event today and it was cool being a part of it. I want to thank PUMA for making it happen."

In closing, head of PUMA Mexico, Mario Olvera gave Daniel a skull lithography made by a Mexican artist as a gesture of appreciation for being part of the celebration of the The of the Dead with all the united talent, and as a homage for his bravery.

Bucket Seat: Ferrari LaFerrari Spider

Today's post was meant to be about the new Aston Martin and Red Bull collaboration, the AM-RB 001, sounds like a drawing number. The car itself is bonkers, its designed by the top dogs at Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin so you know this car means business and it will be powered by a naturally aspirated V12 engine, which could be taken from the Vulcan but couple that with F1 tech and aerodynamics, you could have a Hypercar worthy of the title. They only plan on building between 99-150 of these and thereafter 25 track only versions and already a host of people have put their names down for it, I mean it looks superb and sounds superb so I don't blame you if you have the cash!

Like I said though, this post was meant to be about the AM-RB 001 as it was unveiled yesterday but then the guys in Maranello shortly lifted the covers of this beauty...

 *cue angels singing*

The Ferrari LaFerarri Spider, well that's what most of the world are calling it but the official name will be made public at the Paris Motorshow in October, which some think may be called 'Aperta' which means 'Open' in Italian. The car, even though is just a LaFerrari with no roof looks superb, I mean picture you're favourite supermodel, and seeing her topless, that's what this car is to many motoring enthusiast. The launch colour in black with the red detailing just makes it that more insatiable. 

The car is still powered by that amazing naturally aspirated V12 engine that provides a mind blowing soundtrack and now it will be amplified with no roof, it also has the hybrid motor which bumps up the power to just under 1000 bhp. Forget wind in your hair, you might end up with a hurricane! Anyway, Ferrari totally came and stole the thunder from Aston Martin yesterday and while they have a superb car in the AM-RB 001, one can't help but turn their head towards this beaut. 

Oh and if you do qualify to buy one and were thinking of it, it's a bit late. All are sold out and all the owners have already received their keys which was delivered to them in a fancy carbon fibre box.

Red Boo Kid

Disclaimer: I am a die hard Ferrari fan so do not take the points in this post personally, its all tongue and cheek and my opinion as well as theory into the matter at hand.

This weekend saw one of my favourite rounds in the Formula One season, the Singapore Grand Prix. Besides it being another breathtaking street circuit, what makes it really unique is that the race takes place at night! Being in the electrical engineering industry, to see so many 1000 watts of light being sprayed onto a circuit to mimic daylight is extraordinary to say the least, I would hate to know the electricity bill for it though!

The race was eventually won by the German kid, Sebastian Vettel, he started on pole, made a good get away at the start and was a pretty straight forward race for him till the end. Now after the race, during the interviews he got a lot of boo's from the crowd, I personally hate people who boo at any sporting event, be it football, rugby or in this case, formula one. Why? It's childish, stupid and end of the day shows your level of intelligence of the sport. There's a few theories as to why the crowd were booing Vettel, the most obvious being that he is making the sport boring again, by winning all the damn time, many compare him to Schumacher in his era of dominance with Ferrari. 

That's a bullshit comparison for me, Schumacher was a legendary driver and has been included as on of the greats, sure Vettel seems to be on track to win his 4th driving championship title but is he great? I don't think so, he is good and has a great car, his closest rival Fernando Alonso, he is great but has a good car. That for me is the vital difference between the two this season. If the Spaniard was given a car with more pace, it could be a different scenario altogether. Getting back to the boo's, this wasn't the first race he has been booed on the podium, in fact it's been sort of a trend over the last few races. Seb even joked and said they have a bus for them that goes around to all the different races, like I said it most likely is down to the dominance of Vettel but I have another theory...

The boo's only start when he is on the podium and particularly when he is given the microphone to speak, that there is clear enough evidence for me. The bastard can't shut the fuck up! Seriously, they ask him one question and he rattles on like he is reciting the bible from front to back and back to front! He loves the sound of his own voice, don't believe me? Next time he is interviewed, be it a drivers briefing, after qualifying or after the race, they'll ask him a question and he'll go on and on and on. I'd hate to know what a normal conversation would be like with him, 'hey Seb, how ya doing?' - Seb: "Ya I'm good, its been a good day so far, woke up, brushed my teeth, went and made a stinky poo, showered, tried to comb my steel wool hair, then ate some breakfast, phoned Mark to tell him what a loser he is..." bla bla bla shut the hell up!

It's obvious to me the crowd hate hearing him go on and on in that mind numbing German accent of his, rambling on shit that no one gives a damn about! When Alonso's name is mentioned, they cheer because he is precise, to the point and tells everyone what they want to hear, let alone he is a the greatest driver in the current season. They love nothing more to see him on the podium and address them like they're meant to be spoken to in that flawless Spanish accent. Heck, they rather listen to an emotionless Kimi for 2 hours than hear that big headed kid utter his nonsense. The guy has got to realise that in getting to the the top there has to be some sort of humility that goes with it or in his case, you're not the only one on the podium that's going to speak!

Other than that, take nothing away from the guy, as much as I said he has a great car, which he does, he has to be a good driver to get it in that winning position. Time will tell if he will be a great driver and be included into F1's hall of fame. Many of you would have read this and think what an arrogant Ferrari fan to speak so highly of Alonso, firstly, yes I am arrogant but I want you to go back to last season and compare the RBR to the Ferrari, I'd say the Red Bull was at least 8 seconds faster than the Ferrari, it may not seem like much but in F1 is a shit load and for Alonso come so close to the title with such a slow car just shows you his quality.

Coming back to this weekends race, that Asstralian who nearly punched his chatter box partners lights out at the Malaysian GP had an engine problem on the last lap of the race which caused his car to burst into flames. Alonso being the saint and saviour he is gave Webber a ride back on his car to parc feme. It's been done loads of times in the past but for some reason FIA chose to reprimand both drivers for the stunt and Webber will serve a 10 place penalty at the next race. Fair enough Alonso could have stopped in a better place on the side but nothing serious came of it and I doubt we going to see these sorts of things happen often in a race. Sometimes the FIA need to take a chill pill.